Designing and making jewelry is a creative endeavor that can be extremely rewarding. If you’re thinking of taking your interest or hobby in jewelry-making to the next level and starting a jewelry business, here are some steps you can take to make sure you’re successful.
How to Make a Jewelry Business Plan
The first step in starting a jewelry business is to make a jewelry business plan. Putting in the time to really research your target market (the people who will buy your jewelry), define your goals, and calculate costs and income will really pay off in the longer term. Here are some of the essentials you’re going to want to include in your plan:
Executive summary
What is your business? This is like a blurb for your jewelry business, or how you might pitch it to people who ask.
Company description
What does your business do? Starting a jewelry business could involve:
Designing jewelry
Making custom jewelry to order
Selling jewelry on a certain theme
Repairing and restoring jewelry
Market analysis
Who is your ideal customer? Describe the person who will buy your jewelry. Consider their:
Gender
Age
Possible Occupations
What they might do for fun
Where they live
Where they shop
Their fashion sense and style
The type of jewelry they like to wear (colors, materials, pieces)
How much they have to spend on jewelry
Who might give them jewelry as a present
You will also need to find out what companies already sell jewelry to your ideal customer (or “target market”), how much demand there is for your kind of jewelry, and who your main competitors will be when you’re starting a jewelry business.
Products
What are you selling? How might your customers categorize or compare it? Consider:
Inexpensive fashion jewelry
High-end fashion jewelry
Personalized keepsake jewelry
Engagement and wedding rings
Sets and collections
Materials (metals and alloys, precious metal clay, gemstones…)
Marketing and sales
Where will you sell your jewelry? This is one of the most important points in your jewelry business plan. When you’re just starting a jewelry business, will you sell through social media, online shopping platforms, go to markets and festivals, or go straight for selling wholesale through shops?
Think about where your ideal customer looks for jewelry and where they might hear about it. Maybe they listen to the radio, so that’s where you’ll advertise. Or they might be more likely to find you online, in a magazine, or see your business card at their favorite clothing store or café.
Funding
Next for starting a jewelry business, you’ll need to spend some time figuring out how much it will cost you to make at least one basic jewelry collection multiplied by the production size, plus marketing, packaging, and shipping costs. Find out options for getting a business loan, crowdfunding, or using your own savings to get started.
Example balance sheets
Use your calculations to make a projected balance sheet that includes what you’ll spend and what you expect to make in the first year. To work out your prices, you’ll need to use:
cost of materials + time to make x hourly rate + profit (go for around 30%)
You can also compare your prices to similar companies to see if they are competitive or not. It takes time to build up a business, so don’t expect to make a profit right away.
Business license and a seller’s permit
To sell to friends and family when you’re starting a jewelry business, you will not need any kind of license or permit. However, you WILL need these to sell wholesale to shops, get discounts on materials, and claim expenses back on taxes.
